Japanese govt submits extra budget to Parliament for economic package

Tokyo, Dec 6 The Japanese government on Monday submitted to Parliament a draft extra budget for fiscal 2021 worth a record 36 trillion yen ($320 billion) to partially finance its latest economic package.

The budget is expected to be approved by the Diet in an extraordinary parliamentary session which began on Monday afternoon and will run through December 21, report Xinhua news agency.

With the record budget, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's administration aims to boost the country's economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and prepare for a possible resurgence in the future amid increasing concerns over the Omicron variant.

The first supplementary budget for the current fiscal year through March requires new national bond issuance worth 22.1 trillion yen.

Of the extra budget, 31.6 trillion yen will be allocated for the newly compiled stimulus plan, which entails a record 55.7 trillion yen in fiscal spending.

The policy package is worth about 78.9 trillion yen when private funds are included.

Among the planned outlays, 18.6 trillion yen will be used for measures to fight the virus and relax the economic impact of the pandemic, including 2.0 trillion yen assistance for medical institutions to secure more beds for Covid-19 patients.

In addition, 1.3 trillion yen is set aside to further promote the government's Covid-19 vaccine roll-outs, including 601.9 billion yen for procurement of treatment drugs.

Moreover, 1.2 trillion yen will be allocated for a key measure in the stimulus package, which plans to offer 100,000 yen for children aged 18 or younger in households where the primary earner's annual income is less than 9.6 million yen.

To restart the "Go To Travel" program, a government subsidized amount of 268.5 billion yen will be used to promote domestic tourism. The program was suspended nationwide last December due to a resurgence of the Covid-19 infections.

Since payments for allowances to furloughed workers have been swelling, the government will use 1.7 trillion yen to increase funds for its unemployment insurance system.

It will also allocate 1.4 trillion yen for a separate cash handout scheme of 100,000 yen to be provided to low-income households.

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